Autonomous Weapon Systems Under International Law

This dissertation supports the fmdings of scholars who argue that meaningful human control can resolve the diffıculties associated with AWS. Hovvever, international law offers no defmition of this term, so jurisprudence concerning the concept of 'control' as a means of determining accountability is used to inform a defmition in this dissertation. Tests, which the strict control test and the effective control test, are discussed to examine ideas around 'dependence' and 'control', which are central to accountability. it is concluded that meaningful human control över a system of weapons can only exist when a human being is responsible for the functions of the system that relate to the selection of a kili tar-get and the decision to execute an action. That is, human input is d for the completion of the most important functions of a vveapons system. If that input is absent, the system should be incapable of carrying out these functions.